291 Ps 140,2 If in the morning we understand the life to come, the one in rest and glory
of the just, let us consider the present life as night and evening, evening, as having some light on account of the remaining knowledge of the good and because of the gifts from God, but night, according to the darkness of wickedness and the tyranny of the world rulers of darkness. Man now therefore needs an intense cry, because he is compressed by darkness and weighed down by present evils, to the only one able to give light and to show dawn from evening and day from night and to bring about a change from evils. 292 Ps 140,4.5 He therefore makes his argument against vice, wishing to be pure from it and a stranger to those living in it. For the wounds of friends are more trustworthy than the willing kisses of enemies. 293 Ps 140,6.7 Because, he says, they mock what is good and that which is admittedly most beautiful, maligning prayer according to their own will. And this, he says, will destroy them rootless from the earth as if dug out by a pushing rock that dislodges the root. And they made my words a laugh and a pleasure, laughing at holy things because they rejoice in unholy things and because by long habit concerning these things, the desire for things good and truly desirable and delightful has been cut off. Secondly, concerning death, he speaks of the painfulness of man's dissolution, relating that he is scattered in the manner of a dissolving clod of earth. 294 Ps 140,10 Symmachus: May the lawless fall into their own nets. Against them, he says, may the devices turn, and not against us who are blameless. But I, he says, will avoid mixing with the wicked, until I am able to escape them. For this is a safeguard against being harmed at all by them: not to draw near nor to be mingled with them. This Jeremiah also says: It is good for a man when he bears a yoke in his youth; he will sit alone and be silent. But now for us the separation from the wicked is spiritual, since the physical is impossible, since then we would have to go out of the world, as Paul says.
295 Ps 141,2 Good, therefore, is also the unity of the dyad, in such a case positing the
Lord and the God, but more recognizable to those who have learned the perfect things is the comprehension of the dyad in the unity which Paul presents, explaining one God and one Lord, whom, though being two, he unifies, so that God is understood in the Lord, and the Lord in God; inasmuch as the things of the divine and lordly substance are seen in identity, proceeding from the Father to the Son according to the divine, and being referred back from the Son to God according to the lordly. 296 Ps 141,8 But the end is not set in escaping the siege by enemies, but in the still better thing of offering thanks to God; for this indeed is the highest end.
297 Ps 142 arg. But others say that the psalm is not untitled, but
is inscribed, "A Psalm of David, when his son was persecuting him." However, this is not added in all the interpretations. But what is said is not foreign; and nothing prevents them from having been said concerning the persecution by Saul. 298 Ps 142,8ab But according to the whole hypothesis of the life of the just, or perfect mercy, it does not yet receive now, but the future appearance from heaven signifying the morning, when the Master, appearing from heaven, will shine upon the just. 299 Ps 142,11 The name of goodness he deems to become a pretext for himself for the salvation of God, according to the apostle who says, "To the praise of the glory of his grace."
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291 Ps 140,2 Εἰ πρωῒ τὸν ἐπιόντα βίον συνίεμεν τὸν ἐν ἀναπαύσει καὶ δόξῃ
δικαίων, νύκτα καὶ ἑσπέραν τὸν παρόντα νοήσωμεν, ἑσπέραν μὲν ὡς ἔχοντά τι φωτὸς δι' ἀπολειπομένην γνῶσιν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ δώρων ἕνεκα τῶν παρὰ θεοῦ, νυκτὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸ σκοτῶδες τῆς πονηρίας καὶ τὴν τῶν κοσμοκρατόρων τοῦ σκότους καταδυναστείαν. ἐντενοῦς τοίνυν βοήσεως δεῖται νῦν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι πεπίληται σκότῳ καὶ βαρύνεται τοῖς ἐνεστῶσι κακοῖς, πρὸς τὸν μόνον φωτίσαι δυνάμενον καὶ ὄρθρον ἐξ ἑσπέρας καὶ ἡμέραν ἐκ νυκτὸς ἐπιδεῖξαι καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἐργάσασθαι μεταβολήν. 292 Ps 140,4.5 Τὸν κατὰ κακίας τοίνυν ποιεῖται λόγον, καθαρὸς ἐξ αὐτῆς καὶ ἀλλότριος τῶν ἐν ταύτῃ ζώντων εἶναι βουλόμενος. Ἀξιοπιστότερα γὰρ τραύματα φίλων ἢ ἑκούσια φιλήματα ἐχθρῶν. 293 Ps 140,6.7 Ὅτι, φησί, χλευάζουσι τὸ καλὸν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ὁμολογουμένως κάλλιστον, τὴν προσευχὴν κατὰ τὸ ἑαυτῶν βούλημα διασύροντες. τοῦτο δὲ αὐτούς, φησί, καὶ ἀναστάτους ἐκ γῆς ἀπολεῖ καθάπερ ἐξορυχθέντας διὰ πέτρας ὠθούσης καὶ τὴν ῥίζωσιν ἐκτοπούσης. καὶ γέλωτα ἔθεντο καὶ ἡδονὴν λόγους τοὺς ἐμούς, τὰ σεμνὰ γελῶντες διὰ τὸ τοῖς ἀσέμνοις χαίρειν καὶ χρονίᾳ τῇ περὶ ταῦτα συνηθείᾳ τὴν αἴτησιν ἐκκεκόφθαι τὴν περὶ τὰ καλὰ καὶ ὄντως ποθεινὰ καὶ τερπνά. δεύτερον τὸ περὶ τοῦ θανάτου λέγει τὸ λυπηρὸν τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διαλύσεως διηγούμενος ὅτι βώλου τρόπῳ διαλυομένου σκεδάννυται. 294 Ps 140,10 Ὁ Σύμμαχος· Ἐμπέσοιεν εἰς τὰ δίκτυα ἑαυτῶν παράνομοι. εἰς αὐτούς, φησί, περισταίη μηχανήματα καὶ μὴ εἰς τοὺς ἀναιτίους ἡμᾶς. ἐκκλινῶ δέ, φησίν, ἐγὼ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πονηροὺς ἀνάμιξιν, ἕως ἂν αὐτοὺς καὶ διαφυγεῖν δυνηθῶ. αὕτη γὰρ ἀσφάλεια πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν ὑπ' αὐτῶν λυμανθῆναι τὸ μηδὲ πλησιάζειν μηδὲ συμφύρεσθαι. τοῦτο καὶ Ἱερεμίας φησὶν Ἀγαθὸν ἀνδρὶ ὅταν ἄρῃ ζυγὸν ἐν νεότητι αὐτοῦ· καθήσεται κατὰ μόνας καὶ σιωπήσεται. νῦν δὲ ἡμῖν πνευματικὸς ὁ ἐκ τῶν πονηρῶν χωρισμὸς ὅτι ἀδύνατος ὁ σωματικός, ἐπεὶ ὀφείλομεν ἄρα ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελθεῖν ὡς ὁ Παῦλος λέγει.
295 Ps 141,2 Καλὴ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ τῆς δυάδος ἑνότης ἐπὶ τοιούτου τιθεῖσα τὸν
κύριον καὶ τὸν θεόν, γνωριστικωτέρα δὲ τοῖς τὰ τέλεια μεμαθηκόσιν ἡ τῆς δυάδος ἐν τῇ ἑνότητι κατάληψις ἣν ὁ Παῦλος παρίστησιν, ἕνα μὲν θεὸν ἕνα δὲ κύριον ἐξηγούμενος, οὓς καὶ δύο ὄντας ἑνοῖ τὸν θεὸν μὲν ἐν κυρίῳ κύριον δὲ ἐν θεῷ νοεῖσθαι· καθὸ τὰ τῆς θείας καὶ κυριευτικῆς οὐσίας ἐν ταυτότητι θεωρεῖται, ἐκ πατρὸς μὲν εἰς υἱὸν ὁρμηθέντα κατὰ τὸ θεϊκόν, ἐξ υἱοῦ δὲ εἰς θεὸν ἀναγόμενα κατὰ τὸ κυριευτικόν. 296 Ps 141,8 Οὐ τῷ φυγεῖν δὲ τὴν ὑπ' ἐχθρῶν πολιορκίαν τίθεται τέλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἔτι κάλλιον τῷ θεῷ χάριν ἀνενεγκεῖν· τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ τὸ ἀκρότατον τέλος.
297 Ps 142 arg. Ἄλλοι δέ φασι μὴ εἶναι ἀνεπίγραφον τὸν ψαλμὸν ἀλλ'
ἐπιγεγράφθαι Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αυίδ, ὅτε αὐτὸν ὁ υἱὸς κατεδίωκεν. οὐ διὰ πασῶν μέντοι τῶν ἑρμηνειῶν πρόσκειται τοῦτο. τὰ δὲ λεγόμενα οὐκ ἀλλότρια· οὐδὲν δὲ κωλύει περὶ τῆς ὑπὸ Σαοὺλ διώξεως εἰρῆσθαι αὐτά. 298 Ps 142,8ab Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὅλην τῆς τῶν δικαίων ζωῆς ὑπόθεσιν ἢ τὸν τέλεον ἔλεον οὔπω νῦν ἐπιδέχεται, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπιφάνειαν τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ μηνύουσαν τὸ πρωΐ, ὅτε καταυγάσει δικαίους ὁ δεσπότης ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φανείς. 299 Ps 142,11 Τὸ τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὄνομα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σωτηρίας πρόφασιν ἑαυτῷ γίνεσθαι ἀξιοῖ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον λέγοντα Εἰς ἔπαινον τῆς δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ.
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